Sumit SinghalSumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

On a remote island in the Stockholm archipelago, this small house is built within the context and specific conditions for construction that no car access for transports result in. Around an central open space, four small rooms for sleeping, storage and bath are placed, one in each corner. Light enters through a skylight and large glazed niches that underscores the atelier like character of the central space, as it opens up toward the sky and its green environs in 360°.

Forum AID Award 2008, Best new architecture in the Nordic countries, finalist.

Helgo Award 2008, for Best architecture in a Historical context, finalist.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

Dates:

Open International Competition 2004, 1st prize.

294 proposals from 15 countries.

T&V’s proposal PLATFORM, 1st prize February 2005.

Construction works started August 2006.

Open to the public May 10th 2008.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

In two of the niches, the sliding glass doors are placed on the inner side to create sheltered spaces for the entrance terrace and a place for outdoor dinners. Roof and facades are finished with the same black slate bitumen standard roofing product. Interior and outdoor rooms have natural and light grey painted sawn wooden panels.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

The Kalmar Museum of Art is the result of a winning proposal in the open international competition in 2004 and was inaugurated on the 10th of May 2008. Set amongst the high trees in the main park of the renaissance town of Kalmar, it is built on part of the remains of the medieval city wall, next to a restaurant pavilion dating from the 1930s by Swedish modernist Sven Ivar Lind.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

Kalmar is a flat town and the museum takes a new stance that complement the horizontal condition of this urban landscape. It’s a new place in the midst of a very present historical context that presents new perspectives on contemporary society in a wide sense.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

The competition motto was Platform and that is also the conceptual idea of this museum, a series of open platforms for art related activities. It is also how the museum is constructed, large spans for maximum flexibility on each level, so that not only light but also space can be transformed and adjusted to meet the specific needs of each exhibition.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

The new museum is a black four-level cube clad with large scale wooden panels and punctuated by large glazed openings. It houses the Kalmar collection of Modern Art as well as provide spaces for temporary exhibitions of contemporary art, videos, performances and concerts.

Almost domestic in scale this museum still provides a variety of exhibition conditions. The two main spaces are the white box where one side can open up completely to bring in the exterior of the park, and the top floor gallery that is lit by shed head light shafts doubling its ceiling height. In addition there is a public art library and open workshops.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

One of the architectural main features is the open stair spiralling the full height of the building, starting from the new entrance lobby that interconnects between lake-side and park. It is a top lit space with all surfaces finished in exposed in situ cast concrete.

The four floors, each different from the others, are stacked on top of each other and create a vertical walk up into the greenery of the trees with a series of different spacial experiences while offering views of the environs; the Kalmar castle, the lake and the city centre.

Image Courtesy Åke E:son Lindman

The building is designed to comply with high Swedish standards regarding the use of sustainable, sound and renewable materials as well as energy efficient climate control solutions. The basic construction is in situ cast concrete, a heavy core with external insulation which contribute to the stable interior climate; 21°C ±2 temperature and constant 50% relative air humidity. The big spans are made with post tension concrete slabs. Facades are made of stained black plywood (600/900/1200x900mm), mounted in layers on a framework of saw finished slowly grown pine. Interior finishes are exposed concrete, local lime stone, black stained plywood doors and panels, white painted walls and ceilings.

T&V have also designed furniture pieces; the museum bench, the green bock-tables, the hexagon tables in white ash and steel/carrara, and the library interior.